With the drastic drop in the cost of digital data storage over the last decade, it is now feasible for companies and individuals to store a large amount of data that previously would have been unmanageable. This transition has allowed companies to increase both the type and amount of data they are archiving. The policy of storing text based information, (e.g., text files) has been modified to include increasing the storage of media-rich data (e.g., audio and video files).
Although the amount of media-rich data being stored has increased, the stored information is still not as accessible as the information associated with text documents. The rapid organization and easy navigation of text-based information has become ubiquitous and is essentially expected to be available any time text based information is presented. Accordingly, a typical user almost never utilizes text based information in a linear or complete fashion. Search engine technology and rich contextual searching allows users to navigate to specific points of interest within the text based information.
The rapid organization and navigation of audio and video lags behind similar functionality associated with text-based information. Users are generally forced to utilize media rich data in a linear fashion. Even where the data is not used linearly, navigation is based on jumping to points in the audio or video based on the amount of time elapsed, with no other contextual information.
What is desirable is a system and method for providing data tags for media rich content including both user created tags and automatically created tags. What is further desirable is such a system and method configured to provide a rich media playback interface configured to allow users to navigate rich media data based on the data tags. What is yet further needed is such an interface including a search function.